A city councillor wants council to revisit its
2021 decision
to bring
Tewin
lands into Ottawa’s urban boundary, a move she says was rushed, costly and based on lack of consultation with indigenous communities.
Coun. Theresa Kavanagh recently introduced a motion to reverse the 2021 decision that brought the Taggart Group and Algonquins of Ontario-led development into Ottawa. She later withdrew the motion, citing the absence of a representative from Osgoode ward, where the project will be built. Kavanagh said she would reintroduce the motion when the Osgoode seat is filled.
Kavanagh said the development was originally rejected by city planning staff because it didn’t meet the city’s planning priorities and was too far away and isolated.
“The clay soil is usually problematic, and it would cost a lot of money to put in infrastructure and transit to such an area,” she said.
Tom Ledgley, coordinator at Horizon Ottawa, said that while more housing is needed in the city, Tewin is not the way to do it.
“We definitely don’t disagree that more housing needs to be built,” he said. “But this is not a dense housing development. It’s not happening near existing services. And there aren’t really many strong promises about this being like deeply affordable housing.”
In a written statement by Taggart, they said that Tewin “is being planned to evolve alongside new investments in public infrastructure, including roads, utilities, and transit.”
“As growth occurs, services and amenities will be phased in to support residents with access to employment, education, healthcare, and recreation, all within a walkable, transit-ready urban fabric.”
The statement added that Tewin is in response to “Ottawa’s housing supply pressures.”
Kavanagh also raised concerns about how the project was
framed
as a partnership with First Nations.
“This project claimed it was working in conjunction with First Nations. And it turned out that this was bogus,” she said. “The true First Nations representatives were very angry and have always been opposed to Tewin.”
The Tewin development is a joint venture between the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO) and the Taggart Group, a private Ottawa-based developer. When the project was first introduced, it was promoted by some councillors and city officials as an act of reconciliation, citing the involvement of the AOO.
However, that framing was challenged by several Algonquin communities. In a 2021 open letter, the Algonquin Nation Secretariat, which represents federally recognized Algonquin communities in Ontario and Quebec, stated that the AOO does not speak on behalf of the broader Algonquin Nation.
“Over the past three centuries, our nation has seen our lands dispossessed and our communities marginalized. Reconciliation is long overdue. But we believe that it must be done in the right way and with the right parties,” the 2021 letter reads.
The AOO is a provincial negotiating body composed of ten communities, only one of which is federally recognized, the Pikwakanagan First Nation.
Ledgley said the way the development has been positioned as an act of reconciliation is “misleading.”
“It really doesn’t seem genuine in any way,” he said. “At the end of the day, the biggest winners of this is Taggart.”
In a May 22 statement by Jim Meness, the executive director of the AOO, he said that “reconciliation is not a theme.”
“It is the foundation of the Tewin project. This community represents a generational opportunity where the Algonquins of Ontario will showcase and reclaim a place on our ancestral territory in the heart of the National Capital Region,” the statement reads.
Jennifer van Koughnett, a candidate in the Osgoode by-election who has made Tewin a key issue in her campaign, said the land presents significant environmental and infrastructure challenges.
“There are no services out here. Everything in Carlsbad Springs is either well or trickle system water. We all have septic tanks,” she said
She added that the area borders Bear Creek, home to wildlife that Tewin developers should care for.
In a written statement, Taggart said that their project team is conducting “detailed environmental studies to identify and appropriately mitigate potential impacts on sensitive ecosystems, including significant woodlands, watercourses, and provincially significant wetlands.”
Coun. Wilson Lo, who voted in favour of the infrastructure master plan, said cities in Ontario are obligated to grow according to provincial rules requiring a certain amount to be urban expansion.
“We are creatures of the province,” he said.
Lo said he voted in favour of the plan because rejecting Tewin would require the city to “add the equivalent amount of urban expansion land elsewhere in the city.”
Ledgley said the $500 million water and wastewater servicing plan will likely result in public costs.
“They’re going to argue that because it does not only service Tewin, that it’s just a general city service and they’re not responsible for paying for it,” he said. “It really is going to add up for residents.”
He also said that he has concerns over how Taggart approaches criticism. Van Koughnett said proper environmental assessments and transparency will be necessary if the project moves forward.
“They have to actually show that it is viable to be built on,” she said. “They have a lot of trust to rebuild.”
Lo said that while he respects Kavanagh’s right to bring a motion forward, he questions its effectiveness.
“I don’t know if it’ll achieve what she wants it to achieve,” he said. “If we take Tewin out of the urban boundary, we have to add meter for meter, every single square meter elsewhere in terms of land that we just don’t want.”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice here.”
